The Moment He's Been Waiting For
by Ad Astra Per Alia Porci
Summary: Grissom finally speaks up about how he feels...


As Grissom's quiet, eloquent words floated across the few inches that separated them, Sara was very thankful that he had managed to drag her to the courtyard despite the cold weather. His speech was made in typical Grissom fashion: as detached as the subject would allow and spoken quickly while still managing to contain fancy elongated words that the rest of the world has to guess the meaning of. Still, the message was clear: he had **_finally_** said that he loved her. Within seconds the chilly air ceased to affect Sara's fair skin; her boiling blood assured that nothing short of an Arctic blizzard would make her shiver any time soon. "You what?" she choked out slowly. Her voice was low and her eyes were narrowed as she studied his earnest expression.

"I said that I love you," he repeated in an annoying matter-of-fact tone. A tense silence stretched between them, the only sound to be heard was the faint trill of music managing to sneak from the party hall and out to the night air. Grissom simply watched Sara for a reaction; he felt that he had said as much as was required of him and was content to just see how it all played out. The clenched jaw and flared nostrils didn't bode well for him.

"You have some nerve," she snarled, her eyes ablaze with a controlled fury.

"I -- what?" That answer managed to throw the normally unflappable man for a loop; had Sara not been so furious with him she may have been proud of herself. Grissom realized that this confession was overdue and that the response to it couldn't be entirely predicted. He had run scenarios and likely outcomes in his mind; weighed pros and cons; but ultimately he thought it wouldn't be ill received. After all, who doesn't like to hear that they're loved? He had imagined happiness, sadness, confusion, indifference, and even simple vanity as a response... anger, though, he hadn't anticipated. "I told you when we came out here that I don't expect any optimistic outcome from this; absolutely no response, physical or verbal, is required of you. If you'd prefer, we can pretend it never happened. I just felt that it was something you deserved to hear."

"You're right," she started off in a reasonable tone, "I did deserve to hear it." However, as she continued her voice picked up volume, stress, and anger. "I deserved to hear this _years_ ago; when I asked you out; when it first started to apply; when this would have meant something to me! What I **don't** deserve is to hear this _now_ - at my wedding reception!" As her words gathered more passion she closed the little distance between them threateningly. She waved an accusatory finger while she shouted. "You've made your fair share of stupid mistakes with me Grissom, but this trumps them all!"

"Sara --" he began in a voice that clearly implied she was overreacting.

"No! You had no right!" she stepped back from him a few feet and began a frustrated pace. "I've put up with a lot of shit from you!"

"Undeniably," Grissom jumped in to agree, attempting to win back some points.

Sara glanced over at him dangerously, "So where do you come off? What makes you think that you have the right to say this to me, today of all days!"

"I'm not trying to win you away from Nick," he defended, "I just thought that you should know how I've felt all these years."

"I already knew!" she shouted, pacing faster. "I knew before I heard you tell a complete stranger - and suspect - about us in an interrogation room! I knew before I came to Vegas! I think I knew before you did! Com'on, think about it Griss: before Nick, I was the most unconfident creature ever created. What, except extreme certainty, could ever make me risk my pride and career by propositioning the boss!"

"You heard what I said to Laurie?" Grissom's stone face momentarily displayed his surprise.

"I witnessed the whole 'interrogation'," she confirmed. "I heard you compare your situations. I heard you make your excuses. I heard you commend him for doing what you never could: take a risk and tell me how you feel. Well, congratulations! I guess that you've finally found your no-risk situation!"

"That's not wha--" he tried to argue but Sara would hear it.

"No; this is exactly the type of situation that you were looking for!" She laughed cynically and shook her head, "Now that I think about it, it seems so obvious. I can't believe that I didn't see this coming."

"Sara, I --"

"No. Don't bother," she cut him off again. "You've said what you came to say and you can't take it back. So good for you: you were finally honest. But don't think for one minute that this was courageous." She stopped her pacing at faced him again, staring coldly into his eyes. "You waited until a time when you knew you could confess your feelings and not have to worry about the possibility of having them returned. And with unrequited love, you know that your work, your career is still safe. That's what you said scared you the most, didn't you? Giving up everything that you had worked for... for _me_? That's why you waited until today to tell me this - not when I came on to you, not when you found out about Nick and I, not when you heard we were engaged, not even when the reverend asked if there were any objections during the ceremony... Today -right now- is the first time that you knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you _officially_ had nothing left to lose since I am now _officially_ taken and will never leave Nick." She paused to see if he would even bother denying her claims; he didn't. He simply stood in front of her with a posture screaming shame and a broken sort of look in his eyes. "You, Gil Grissom, are a coward." She stared at him for a few seconds longer to make sure her words had sunk in.

Seeing their effect she decided that that was enough of him for today. Just ten feet away was a room full of people laughing and dancing and ready to celebrate her wedding day and her future life as Mrs. Stokes. She brushed past Grissom and headed towards the double doors that would bring her back to her husband. As she reached out for the handles she spoke up once more, not bothering to turn around for this last thought, "Just for the record: you could have made this confession months ago. The day that you officially had nothing left to lose was the day that Nick Stokes kissed me for the first time." With nothing left to say between them, Sara opened the doors and left Grissom alone in the courtyard. It only took three steps into the tiled room to wipe away all the anger and bitterness that her confrontation with Grissom had created. By her third step she had caught sight on Nick on the dance floor, slow dancing with one of his youngest nieces giggling in his arms.

Sara made her way around the room and back to the head table, never once taking her eyes off of him. As the song began to fade away Nick glanced towards her table and found her watching the dance. A large grin spread across his face now that he'd located her again. As soon as the music switched to a new track he put his niece on the floor with a departing kiss and speed-walked over to his wife.

"There you are," he smiled impossibly wider as he bent down to kiss her before taking his seat and her hand. "I was beginning to worry that you'd gotten bored with me already and decided to trade our honeymoon for the latest crimescene," he winked.

"I'll never get bored of you…" she assured before a tiny smirk formed on her lips, "Wait! There's a new crimescene!"

"Funny lady," Nick rolled his eyes and stole a lingering kiss. "Hmmm," he sighed contently. "I've just decided that I'm not going to let you out of my sight – no, out of my reach – for the rest of the night."

"I'm going to hold you to that," Sara warned.

"You do that," he encouraged. "So what'd Grissom want?"

Sara let out a weary sigh before answering Nick with a sparkling smile, "He was just making sure that I understand how lucky I am to have a man like you."


End file.
